am i just a creepo?

February 17, 2011

as a rule,
i don’t really believe in knitting prayer shawls.
i’m not sure why, exactly. perhaps it’s simply my inner cynic.
but, with all the many tragedies occurring in my periphery,
none has ever compelled me to knit a damn thing.

for me, knitting is about happiness,
the joy of beautiful yarn,
the mediation of repetitive motion,
the focus required to execute a high degree of difficulty.

simply put,
knitting is a selfish act.
at least for me.

and while i do give most of what i knit away to other people,
i’m only looking for that smile on their face.
it’s the best drug.

recently, though, i read a blog post that literally brought tears to my eyes. and, for whatever reason, i finally felt that need to comfort through knitting. three days later, a boneyard was born.i decided to use the handspun tina gave me for my birthday.
she made me promise i wouldn’t treasure it;
i had to knit something with it.
this felt appropriate.

we all know that, with handspun, you have to be extremely careful.
if i ran out, i couldn’t just call tina and be like,
“whip up some more of this yarn please!
i’m making a shawl and need to bind off.”

believe me when i say i cut it close.
i was weighing that ball after repeat.
and following a sewn bind off that took me three hours to finish,
i had this much yarn left:it’s roughly a yard and a half.
not bad, right?

the shawl went out in today’s mail,
and should arrive by saturday.

but now i’m all worried.

we’re not exactly real friends.
yes we tweet back and forth,
and occasionally comment on each other’s blog.
it’s . . . . a ravelry friendship i guess you’d say.
two people brought together in cyberspace because of our mutual love of all things knitterly.

but there’s a fine line between doing something touching, and plain old-fashioned stalking. and that line is always drawn by the other person.

is it weird to just send a knitter i’ve never met a prayer shawl?am i just a creepo?

25 Responses to “am i just a creepo?”

I think most knitters are a special breed, especially with the advent of Ravelry, in that we tend to look past the creepy-stalkery aspects of communication and just enjoy each others skill and effort. I’m sure you had a good reason to send the shawl to that person and they’ll appreciate where it’s coming from.

Not weird/creepy at all. I think it’s a kind and wonderful and lovely thing to do. I did something similar about a year and a half ago, and I worried it would seem kind of weird to the recipient, but she was so touched. I hope you get a similar response!

not creepy in the least bit, it’s very sweet of you to do……..I believe that everything we knit and give away carries with it our good thoughts about the knitting and the person we did it for….xoxo the shawl is lovely

no, not a creepo. Just seems maybe a little empathy and compassion crept in when you were not looking…and overcame the inner cynic! I do not call them prayer shawls, per se, but “hugs” for when I cannot be there to deliver the real thing.

Definitely NOT a creepo! Knitting and giving such a beautiful shawl is such a sweet, kind thing to do . . . I can’t imagine another knitter who wouldn’t be thrilled and honored to receive such a lovely gift. What a sweetie you are!

Not creepy at all – just plain good, human kindness being shown to someone else. I once posted on my blog that one item I wanted to purchase for my kitchen last year was an immersion blender. A few week later one showed up in the mail from someone who found my blog through someone else. She happened to have an extra one that she never used. Blogging has opened up a different way to meet people all over the world – and, it opens up a new level of kindness to one another.

Not creepo at all… I remember you wondering whether one should knit for another one hasn’t met. I can’t believe I am the recipient of this shawl. And this shawl specifically, it’s like Steven/Stephen cubed. Thank you, Steven. More later… I have to run to catch a plane.

There is something to be said for sending ‘good energy’ out in to the world. Sending something beautiful that you made (with something beautiful that someone else made) is totally fine.

And definitely NOT stalking–in most states you need a distinct pattern (I’m a criminal defense attorney, I should know). Now if you dropped it off to her yourself and waited on her doorstep until she tried it on we might have a problem. Just remember don’t make any statements to the police. EVER. That’s good advice.